It’s Rough Around the Edges…

Photo: A view of the master bedroom this morning. One of my favorite things to do when moving into a new place is observing the light throughout the day. The house has beautiful moments of sunlight throughout the day in different rooms. I can’t wait to play with color in the context of the changing sunlight.

Life in this house is rough around the edges but, it’s home. I’m home. We are a family at home.

I’m sitting on my bed because there isn’t anywhere else to sit. My boys are, instead of sleeping, playing with a shopping cart and a little wood train on the floor of my master bedroom–because their playroom still has exposed electrical wires… the workmen took the countertop out of the kitchen today, so I made peanut-butter jelly sammies in the dinning room on a bookshelf… Their nursery is the only “complete” room in the entire room in the house… There is only 1 working outlet on the first floor and 1 overhead fixture… and did I mention that the only working bathroom is on the first floor?

I’m camping, in my own house. But I’m in my own house. And I woke up in my own bed, and my sons woke up in their own cribs, and I feel like I can better monitor what is happening here. There is a tiny, tiny voice in the back of my mind that wonders if this was a bad idea… but I keep telling myself that it’s going to get a little better around here every single day. I should have a Quiet Thought post this week that says “On Monday, I thought this was a bad idea. Today, I have muffins in the oven.”

Because I’m still an optimist, though the world keeps screaming for me to be otherwise.

There are many, many things that are calling for my attention in this house. Besides unpacking, there is a lot that just needs to be scrubbed. Our front yard is a complete and utter mud-pit, with no walk between my driveway and my front door. Multiple times this weekend, The Husband and I traversed our front yard. There were a few moments there when I thought I was going to lose my boot to my front yard! The Husband says that we should try to put down a pathway of pavers/gravel/something right now because it’s winter and the ground is supposed to be hard. Well…the ground in front of my house is mud and I’m not looking forward to trying to traverse that tomorrow with both babies in my arms so as to prevent Ursa Major from getting muddy before school.

My other greatest concern is the bathroom situation. The second-floor bathroom is still out of commission, though we were told that it was going to be done on Friday. It was very disappointing to walk in on Saturday and see that there was no water running. The plumber is (supposedly) coming tomorrow, and hopefully that will mean that we will have a bathroom up here, which will make things significantly more comfortable. If I can just get this second-floor bathroom available and the playroom clean and established then I will feel like I’m really living here.

Oh, and a washer and dryer… which I have, but I cannot hook up because the electricians are really, really slow and doing their work. So, of course, the boys are champions at going through their laundry. and Ursa Minor has an adorable new trick where he throws up when he’s upset. Annnnd he threw-up all over his comforter this afternoon instead of napping. I am so angry that I could spit! I’m probably going to have to go back to Mom’s to do a load or two…

yeah… today, I absolutely think that was a bad idea.

But I didn’t have any regrets this morning.

And I’m convinced that I won’t have these regrets on Friday. Friday is going to be a good day. Between here and there? Well… We’ll see.

On Wednesday, I’m writing a post about Ursa Major. He turns three next week, ya’ll. THREE!!! This leaves me breathless. And seeing him emerge as a “big boy,” completely shedding baby/toddlerhood and ascending into “childhood” is simply amazing. His world opens up more and more every day. This makes me appreciate Ursa Minor’s baby-ness so much more… and yet, it heightens the annoying aspects of some of his behavior. I can’t wait to write on Wednesday!

In the meantime, I need to be writing fiction! I am a little over a month away from the deadline for my first submission of the year! I have a lot of work to do, seeing as I’m only about 50% through the piece! Heaven help me… I might not make it!

nope. No excuses. I’m gonna make it. I’ll have a draft done on Friday.

Friday is going to be a good day, ya’ll.

Tonight: I knit with my host mom from my preschool for a “sanity knitting session.” Please recall my New Year’s Task List! I’m working on #6 and #13! I’m behind on a lot of other things.. like my EdX courses. I keep getting emails from a course I’m auditing on Letters of the Apostle Paul and every time I see the emails, I’m like “I’m missing it! Oh my God!!” Maybe I’ll listen to a lecture when I get home… Hmm… maybe I’ll write about it as part of my Quiet Thoughts post.

Because Friday is going to be a good day.

See you Wednesday, though, with progress and other good news. And a plea for help, because I have NO idea what I’m doing for Ursa Major’s 3rd birthday… hmm hmm hmmmmm.